


Anagapesis

by en passant (corinthian)



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-01
Updated: 2014-09-01
Packaged: 2018-02-15 17:13:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2236974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corinthian/pseuds/en%20passant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The feeling when one no longer loves someone they once did.</p><p>--</p><p>They didn’t go to the same universities. Of course they didn’t. Kai stayed local, grounded. Aichi went abroad, he had debated SIT but much like his time at Miyaji he felt a more academically focused school suited him better. Ren didn’t go to university, but he did decide to travel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Anagapesis

Ren and Aichi would play Vanguard over Skype. Ren would always call at weird times and only about a third of the time would Aichi answer. (Another third, Aichi saw the incoming call but was busy and it was easier to be unavailable than it was to get Ren off the call.)

It was Kai that Aichi saved up for trips during holidays to go see and Kai who he wrote long letters to or sent packages. Kai would always meet with Aichi during those trips. They’d play Vanguard, maybe visit the places they’d used to go during high school. Sometimes Kai would invite Aichi over. Aichi usually declined, there were a lot of people to see and holidays were only so long.

Ren only saw Kai once or twice a year.

—

Just once, Ren and Kai tried to fall into stride with each other again. I’ll be back for a week, we should spend time together. I know Aichi-kun won’t be in town the same week. Ren had said. Kai hadn’t agreed, but he hadn’t disagreed.

They had went to the park. They went to card stores. They went to the zoo. Ren ate shaved ice and cake and parfait and Kai wondered how long Ren was going to grow his hair out to. They both thought the other hadn’t changed that much but spent much of the week surprised. Kai slept in later than Ren thought he would. Ren’s childhood clumsiness had been replaced with a sloppy affectionate body language that was difficult for Kai to predict. When they tried a kiss first Kai was too stiff. Then Ren was too aggressive. They ordered pizza.

Ren left on Thursday, even though they still had three more days in the week.

—

"This is almost like a secret meeting." Ren said. Aichi had to laugh, because he agreed and because it was just like Ren to say something like this. They were meeting at a hotel in York because Aichi was visiting for school and because Ren was visiting to participate in the British tournament. "Should we pretend we’re having an affair?"

"That’s too much, Ren-san." Aichi ducked his head.

"Do you want to fight, after this?" Ren tapped his hand against his glass. They were at the hotel bar, but Ren had ordered a strawberry soda and Aichi had gotten water.

"If you have the energy, I know you just got in."

"I always have the energy for you, Aichi-kun."

As usual, Ren underestimated Aichi.

—

Over Christmas break Aichi declined to cardfight Kai. When they met — Kai came to pick him up at the airport — Aichi had held Kai’s hand in both of his, squeezed and told him that it would be better if they didn’t plan to play this visit. He didn’t have the time.

The rest of the day was fine, they did the things they normally did, but the Vanguard deck in Kai’s pocket grew heavier with every minute he spent with Aichi.

—

The last time Ren visited Japan that year he made sure to visit Kai. We’ve become official Ultra-Rare stalkers, he shared the good news. He and Asaka and Tetsu were going to follow Suiko on tour. Just by coincidence. The way Ren reported it was indeed serendipitous but Kai knew he better than to imagine that it wasn’t either through Ren’s own desires, Tetsu’s organizational skills or some unholy mix of both.

"Can I be honest with you, Kai?" Ren had positioned himself so he was practically sitting in Kai’s lap, arms looped around Kai’s shoulders. Even though he was still not used to Ren’s invasive draping, Kai tolerated it.

"Sure."

"I think this will be the first year that I won’t see you the whole year. We’ll be pretty busy, Suiko’s schedule is really demanding! And, you know, even I get tired of getting burned." Ren laughed, low and in the back of his throat. "So, I really wanted this night to be special, right? We can make the most of it, right?"

"Don’t act as if I’m the only one who makes this difficult." It was easier to be honest with Ren these days. Occasionally though, Ren would give him such a look that it was hard to not picture Ren from years before — the one who readily accepted PSYqualia with open arms.

"Goodbye, Kai." Ren shifted forward as if to kiss him but instead pressed his forehead to Kai’s shoulder. "I’ve really quite missed you a lot."

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr for the word meme challenge.


End file.
